PACKAGING: THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY TO IMPRESS
It may be the last step in getting product out the door, but a company’s packaging presents an important first opportunity to impress a customer and ensure repeat business. While not the most glamorous aspect of manufacturing, packaging is a science. Everybody who has received their fragile merchandise intact from thousands of miles away, certainly appreciates the extra effort. Howard Elliott’s team strives for a perfect end result with every single order. We recognize that regardless of the distribution channel, how a product is packed is just as important as how it’s designed and how quickly delivered.
We understand it is important to get your product in one piece!
We pride ourselves on maintaining a damage rate of less than 2.5% for all of our major retail AND e-commerce customers. We even get a chuckle sometimes in reading customer comments where they “complain” that there is soooo much packaging protecting our products!
Specifically, how are Howard Elliott’s packaging techniques better than our competitors? Well, to start our team meets with packaging specialists at FedEx monthly to evaluate our current shipments, damages and repeat “offenders.” Here we evaluate what changes need to be made at the item level and globally across the line as a whole, to again, guarantee that the goods will arrive to the customer in one piece. Items are regularly sent to the International Safe Transit Association (ISTA) testing lab to further ensure compliance.
On the factory floor, extra fragile mirrors and accessories are over packed with an additional layer of packaging for small parcel shipments. Our large scale, LTL shipments are enhanced with extra supports and strapping on their pallets. Extra packaging is also added internally, where necessary, to prevent in-house breakage. Sometimes, we utilize extra foam peanuts or polyurethane wrap, while other products require additional corner reinforcement.
Daily, we’re challenged to match the right packaging with each item of our diverse offering of product, which features a great variety of sizes and materials. Our team studies and tests each piece individually, and we monitor the status of all of our products on a continuous basis. We enlist the help of experts in packaging supplies to assist us with this difficult task.
Today’s new business channels continue to challenge us to explore the latest and most cost effective ways to package our products. We even go so far as to create wooden crates for some of our customized product specifically meant for hospitality and high design distribution channels.
So while over packing may be discouraged when traveling, here at Howard Elliott, it’s one of the integral elements to our successful “Signature of Design” formula. From start to finish, we’re dedicated to making sure our exclusive products arrive exactly as our customers expect, and ready to become statement pieces right out of the box. We invite you to experience our packaging excellence on your next order – you won’t have any complaints about over-packing!
